Sharon back in battle to save Gaza pullout

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The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was fighting for his political life again yesterday as he faced down far-right members of his own party who oppose his plans to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.

Mr Sharon's supporters were engaged in frantic canvassing of the Likud party's 2900-strong central committee to try to block a snap convention resolution calling for an end to attempts to bring the Labour Party into the ruling coalition.

A deal with Labour would give Mr Sharon enough votes in the Knesset to proceed with "disengagement" over the heads of hardline Likud MPs, who would probably vote against.

The Prime Minister's camp has already said it will not be bound by the convention's decision, pointing out that the central committee does not have the right to force political decisions on the elected leadership.

However, the central committee's power to draw up lists of election candidates does give it considerable influence over Likud MPs, who fear disendorsement if they fall from favour.

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Political observers say that if the Sharon camp loses the convention fight then individual Likud MPs could face a stark choice. If they side with Mr Sharon on disengagement they risk their careers, but if they oppose him the Prime Minister might resign and provoke a general election, in which many would probably lose their seats.

Opinion polls show that a majority of Israelis support Mr Sharon and his disengagement plan, and that much of the Likud's mainstream support stems from Mr Sharon's popularity.

The Likud's central committee, on the other hand, is seen as even more right-wing than mainstream Israeli society, including many passionate supporters of the belief that the entire biblical land of Israel should be seized and settled by Jews.

This year it inflicted a damaging blow to Mr Sharon when its members voted against his Gaza "disengagement plan".

That plan, endorsed by Washington, would lead to Israel unilaterally withdrawing troops and settlers from inside the Gaza Strip - a fenced off enclave for 1.3 million Palestinians - while annexing and settling further unspecified blocks of territory in the other much larger Palestinian enclave, the West Bank.

In a move widely interpreted in Israel as an olive branch to the Likud right, on Tuesday the Government announced tenders to build 1000 new houses for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

This follows revelations the previous week of government plans to build 800 houses in two of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank.